Blurring Reality
by Commentaholic - Alpha 02
Summary: A strange prisoner appears in the Imperial Prison. He would normally be labeled as certifiably insane by Cyrodiil's healers, but those who know him that there is a method to his madness. My First Crossover and the first ever Oblivion/IC crossover.
1. Prologue: An Odd Sight

**Blurring Reality**

By Commentaholic

**A/N: I'm sorry for any readers who are fans of my Inheritance Cycle story. It's been way too long since my last update. I've kinda been in a slump, and I thought that writing another story might get me out of it. I felt like returning to my origins. That's right, folks. It's Oblivion.**

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**Prologue**: An Odd Sight.

* * *

The figure in the cell across from mine contorted before my very eyes, shifting from Orc, to Breton, even a Dark Elf like myself! It finally passed over the hideous cat-like Khajiit before ceasing its shape-shifting and stopping on the scaled form of an Argonian. Although its back was its cell door, I could tell that it was a standard Argonian. I'd seen dozens of the pond-squatters come and go during their brief stays in the Imperial City Prison. There was only one problem. Only one thing different from the others.

No one had been in that cell a minute ago.

The notorious Dark Elf known as Valen Dreth watched from his cell as the Argonian's skin went from a dark red to a shimmering white, a color that was unheard of on an Argonian except in the myths of Black Marsh. Many an eccentric nomad had claimed to have seen a silver Argonian, a sign of doom for all of Tamriel, but the sightings had been dismissed as the rantings of attention-seeking lizards.

Valen watched as the spikes retracted into the Argonian's elongated skull to be replaced by a single fin which extended from the center of the Argonian's scaly scalp, arcing backwards into an elegant curve of scaly rigidity.

The Argonian male, for that was its gender, suddenly looked around, looked into the corner of its cell, and sank into a crouch, disappearing from sight.

Valen cursed, where had it gone? He had it in his sight a moment before, and all of a sudden, the cell was empty. He heard the rustling of chains from behind the other cell's corner, but ignored it, instead standing at the door to his cell wondering where the other prisoner had gone.

"Must've been the rats. Nasty things, always scurrying about…"

* * *

The Argonian ducked behind the corner. _Yes! I managed to get into sneak mode before he saw me! Now to get some quick sneak leveling in…_

He began to crouch-walk into the stone wall, well out of sight of that annoying Dark Elf.

* * *

Valen had settled back onto his cot due to the lack of excitement. He still had a while before that pig of a guard came to check on the prisoners. He had almost nodded off when he heard a short series of drumbeats. Then another… and another. It continued periodically, the time between them increasing slightly as they continued. Eventually a minute or two went by between beats. Then they stopped coming. Valen waited one…two…..ten minute went by without a single _thump_ of the non-existent drum. He heard a commotion upstairs, and a door creak open.

Suddenly the Argonian appeared at the door to the cell. It was silvery-white scaled, as Dreth had seen earlier, but with two sickle-shaped blue marks on its face, one per cheek. The marks arced along the cheek line, curving up toward where a normal sort of being would have ears. Instead of ears, the stupid Argonian pondscum had tympanic membranes, or a little bit of skin covering a hole in its head, where sounds could reach its thick skull. The Argonian's irridescent green eyes gleamed, despite the dim light in the dungeon. Another strange non-standard Argonian feature.

Dreth grasped the bars and pulled his face in between two of the iron barriers to his freedom, baring his yellowing teeth in a cruel smile.

"Hey, Lizard! It must break your heart, huh? Being so close to the water, knowing you'll never get to swim agai-"

"Oh, shut it, Dreth, all I want is some peace and quiet until I get out of here." came a voice from the other cell. The Argonian also neared the iron bars to his cell. The voice, surprisingly, lacked the usual hiss and rough tone that most Argonians had; a remnant of their lizard evolutionary heritage. This one sounded almost….Imperial.

"You think you're getting out? You'll never get to swim again. You hear me, lizard? You're going to die in here! You're going to DIE!" Valen countered, letting out a maniacal laugh.

An iron door creaked open up the stone steps of the dungeon. Valen turned his ear towards the hallway, heard voices coming down the stairs. He looked back at the Argonian, smiling evilly. "You hear that? The guards are coming…for you!"

"Yeah, fat chance," the Argonian said, easing into the small stool in his cell, putting his hands at rest on the table there.

Voices came from the stairs, "Baurus, lock that door behind us."

The Argonian began to chuckle, which caused Dreth to stare at him strangely.

"And what are you laughing at?"

"Well, it's my lucky day, you see." The Argonian's form blurred a little, and the shackles binding his wrists disappeared, clattering to the floor halfway across the cell.

The voices continued, "My sons, they're dead, aren't they?" This voice was old, and definitely sounded as though its owner was weary, haunted by some unspeakable dread.

"We don't know that, sire;" the first voice, female, said reassuringly, "The messenger only said they were attacked."

"No… They are dead, I know it."

The female soldier with strange armor peered around the corner. After checking that the dungeon was clear, she beckoned to the people behind her. Two more soldiers came around, one guarding the stairs, the other stepping in front of the Argonian's cell. Then an old man came down among them. He was dressed in an elaborate purple robe, trimmed with red and white, a silver shortsword buckled at his waist.

The woman spoke again, "Well, my job is to get you to safety," she said, stopping before the pondscum's cell. She looked shocked to see it occupied. "What's this prisoner doing in here? This cell is supposed to be off-limits!" The guards next to her stuttered out some lame excuse about there being some mix-up with The Watch, but the women just waved away his hasty reply, "Never mind, just get this gate open. Stand back…" But seeing the prisoner already away from the door, she unlocked it and strode inside. "Stay where you are, we won't hesitate to kill you if you get in our way."

The guard with the excuse walked up to the Argonian and said, "Stay put prisoner." The prisoner smiled a fang-filled grin, and just leaned back against the wall, tipping his stool so he could recline more easily. The female guard walked over to the stone wall near the Argonian's bed and started feeling around on the stones. The old man, who had followed them into the cell, looked at the prisoner, eyes wide.

"You." he began, "I've seen you… Let me see your face…"

The old man perused the silvery-scaled face, taking particular interest in the sickle-shaped markings on the stupid lizard's face. Dreth, though usually hateful and disinterested by nature, could not stop himself from watching the proceedings. The old man finally saw something he recognized, and staggered back a little, clutching at his head.

"You are the one from my dreams… Then the stars were right, and this is the day… Gods give me strength."

The Argonian looked amused, and looked as if something was hovering in front of his face. He mumbled, "I'd never say that …" Then he spoke up after a sigh, "What's going on?"

"Assassins-" the old man began, before he was interrupted by the Argonian.

"Yeah, yeah, they attacked your sons, and you know that you're next."

The soldier keeping an eye on the Argonian hissed, drawing his strange sword, "Show more respect to the Emperor, foul Argonian, or your words will be your last."

Dreth gasped, _the_ Emperor? What was he doing down here? Well, besides the "fleeing from assassins" thing.

"Relax, Glenroy, no need to get hostile."

The sword in the soldier's hand flickered up to the Argonian's throat, "I won't ask how you know my name, but if you talk so flippantly with the Emperor again, I will have your head."

The Argonian raised his hands placatingly. A hand appeared on top of the flat of the sword.

"At ease, Glenroy, he means us no harm." He turned to the prisoner, "These are my Blades, as you must already know, who are taking me to safety along a hidden escape route. By chance, this hidden path leads through your cell."

"Yeah…by chance, let's go with that."

The prisoner again looked at what only he could see hovering in mid-air. "Fine…. Why am I in jail?"

"Perhaps the gods have placed you here so that we may meet. As for what you have done, it does not matter. That is not what you will be remembered for. Since you already seem to know who I am, we'll skip the introductions. You are a citizen of Tamriel, and you will serve her in your own way."

Another gaze into space later, the Argonian spoke. "I go my own way."

"So do we all, but what path can be avoided what has been fixed by the almighty gods?"

There was a rumble of stone rubbing against stone, and a brick was receding into the wall of the cell from where the female soldier had pressed it, "Excuse me, sire, but we must keep moving," she said. A portion of the wall slid out of sight, revealing a tunnel-like passageway down into the earth. The female guard lit a torch and led the way into the cavernous tunnel. "We'd best not close this one. There's no way to open it from the other side."

The Redguard soldier who had been guarding the stairs spoke up in a warm voice, half joking, "It looks like your lucky day, prisoner. Just stay out of our way." The soldiers secured the cell door then proceeded down the tunnel.

The Argonian turned to look at Dreth through the cell door. "I'll be seeing you later, Dreth. You can count on it." His scaly hide disappeared through the tunnel and into the darkness, chuckling darkly, the laughter echoing through the dungeon.

Valen Dreth cursed. Why couldn't it have been _his_ cell?

* * *

Glenroy, the Blade bringing up the rear of the formation, heard the prisoner's scaly feet padding along behind them after the Argonian's short exchange with the other prisoner. To tell the truth, the words had seemed foreboding. Almost like a threat. His pondering was brought short as he heard Captain Renault shout out, "Close up left, protect the Emperor!" before crying out in pain. The Argonian blurred past him in a flash of scales, catching Renault's blade before it hit the ground, thrusting it forward to impale the assassin who had slain the Blade Captain. He whipped it around, slitting the throat of the next robed murderer, who had just come around the corner.

Glenroy gaped. In mere moments, this Argonian had killed two assassins, one of which who had been the one to best Renault! He watched the Argonian raise the katana up to his eyes and sigh with relief.

"How can you be so relieved? They just killed the Captain!" Baurus said, bristling with anger. Glenroy was startled at Baurus's reaction. Normally the Redguard was calm and collected, normally the humor of the group. Many a boring patrol had been made survivable by the Redguard's jokes.

"Relief? Oh, it's not about Renault. I'm just glad I managed to grab the sword before it fell. You have no idea how hard it is to find once it rolls into a corner. Sure, I'm sad that Renault is dead, but let's face it. Anyone who dies from a single hit, especially when wearing your oh-so-special Blade armor, obviously isn't as important as you think."

"Why you…" Baurus said, advancing on the prisoner. Glenroy held out a hand to stop his fellow Blade.

"Baurus, stop. There will be time to mourn for the Captain, but first we must make sure the Emperor gets out safely." Baurus took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and nodded. They proceeded through the door leading to the rest of the Imperial Subterrane. Glenroy heard a yell from the prisoner, a slam of a door, and a click of the lock. Baurus stood at the door, pulling the key from the lock. Glenroy could hear fists pounding on the opposite side of the now-locked entryway.

"And what was that for? We could have used his help!"

"We don't need _his_ kind of help, Glenroy. Let's get a move on, the Emperor isn't safe yet."

From the other side of the door, they could hear muffled squeaks.

* * *

_Food, food, I smell food. _The large rats squeaked, rustling up to get through the hole in the wall first. They smelled people, and let's face it. In the sewers, there wasn't much food to be had.

The wall crumbled before their insistent pushings, falling open to reveal a pile of red-robed bodies, one armored corpse, and a live scaled person banging on a door, sword in its hand.

The sword did not worry the rats, however, they just charged in as they usually did. Hearing the squeaks, the Argonian whirled around, catching the first rat on the side with his blade, flipping it end over end into the corner. The second rat, he caught in mid air, slashing across its neck, severing its head from its disgusting little body.

The Argonian flicked the blood from the katana. These rats were always so annoying… and persistent. He looked over at Renault. _A little extra help wouldn't hurt…_

Renault's eyes shot open, revealing completely black eyeballs with no trace of white remaining. Her body gasped for air as she slid down the stairs she had been lying dead upon. "Wha—What happened?"

"You, my dear Renault, are dead. But I hate traveling alone, so I decided to do you a favor." came a voice from behind. She twisted around, trying to get to her feet, reaching for her katana. "Looking for this?" The Argonian stood there, twirling her katana in his hands almost lazily.

"Give that back!" Renault growled, reaching out her hand.

"Wow, so ungrateful. If you want it back so much, sure. Have it." The katana spun from the Argonian's silver hand, arcing through the air to stab through Renault's stomach. "Whoops," the Argonian said as Renault's vision went dark again.

The Argonian smacked his palm onto his face as he recited the spell to resurrect the Blade Captain again. It was a good thing that his magicka was boosted…

* * *

Renault gasped for air as she returned from death once more. She gripped the katana, which had been removed from her stomach, looking around for the Argonian. A voice came from above.

"You aren't going to attack me this time, are you? The third time, you tried to kill me with that shortsword you had concealed. You're rather sneaky for someone in an honor-bound league of guards."

The Argonian was sitting on a ledge high on the wall next to a bust of some long-forgotten warrior. His scaly feet dangled off the edge as he looked down at her with what looked like amusement.

"I won't try to kill you."

"Promise? Seriously, I've been betrayed too many times to actually trust anyone at their word. How about you swear on your sword. You Blades do that sometimes, right?"

"I swear on my sword, as well as the Renault Family's honor."

"Alright, good enough for me." The Argonian hopped down off the ledge, almost gliding down to the ground next to Renault.

"How did you…?"

"Oh, that. Levitation spell I picked up in Morrowind. It's handier than you might realize. Now, if you would please follow me." He gestured over to a hole in the wall. Renault followed the silvery Argonian through the gap, stepping over the rat corpses that littered the floor. He stepped over to a fallen skeleton, searching through a bag that was strapped to the skeleton's hip. "Oh good, at last I have something to wear besides these rags." He slipped on the leather armor over his tattered prison garments with relief. "Now I actually am wearing something decent." He hefted an akaviri katana disturbingly similar to Renault's own. In fact…

"Hey, that's my sword!" Rentault exclaimed, "That's my initials engraved into the guard!"

"Oh, right. _That._ Did I forget to mention that every time I revived you, I grabbed a duplicate of your sword?" He opened his pack to reveal 5 identical Akaviri katana hilts. Renault backed away from the Argonian. "Oh, relax, Renault, I'm not likely to kill you for items. It's a real pain to have to revive you numerous times."

"And that's another thing. How do you know my name? I've never met you before in my life! And who are you, anyway?"

"You may call me Brightscales. The reason is obvious, I imagine. Now, can we get a move on?" He grabbed a bow from the ground beside the skeleton, gestured over the locked chest next to it, opened it and grabbing the quiver of arrows inside.

"How'd you do that? That chest was locked, and that was no magic I've ever seen."

"Oh… Just call it Tildemancy. It's a new magic I developed a few years ago. Nobody else has it but me, and I intend to keep it that way. If it were to get into the wrong hands, it could be disastrous for the world as we know it."

Brightscales took a moment to let loose an arrow into a random bucket that dangled over a forgotten well across the room. He strode over after a small _ting _came from nowhere, grabbing the arrow and proceeding on to the door opposite the way they had come in. He paused, "You know? I have always wondered why they have a well down here…"

He waved his hand at the next door, which clicked open, and strode through. There was a flash of fire from the next room, prompting Renault to come charging in, only to find 3 rat corpses, along with one of a zombie smoldering on the ground in front of Brightscales. The Argonian himself was downing a small magicka potion the size of his thumb. Not enough to actually restore any decent amount, but enough to compensate for a small drain if you were too lazy to wait for it to recharge.

He walked confidently across the room to a chest which opened before him, without even a touch from his hand. He pulled the iron breastplate and greaves from it, putting them away in his pack, which didn't even so much as bulge an inch from all the stuff that was inside of it. His legs suddenly locked in place. He couldn't move his legs at all. He sighed, "Ah crap, one second." He reached into the bag, pulling out some of the assassins' robes and throwing them upon the ground. His legs suddenly flinched and he could move them again. After he replaced the pack onto his shoulder, he asked, "Shall we continue?"

They proceeded through the underground tunnels, finding more rats and zombies along the way, most of which were dealt with by Brightscales's quick action. Renault began to feel like more of an accessory than an actual help. Brightscales was simply breezing through these enemies, sometimes not even looking where he was shooting, except when he managed a near-impossible shot. It was a moment like this that they now found themselves in. The Argonian and Renault were standing over the body of a rat, which had an arrow piercing its eye, passing through its skull, and the arrowhead was jutting out of the eye on the opposite side.

"Nice shot, eh?" Brightscales joked before moving on.

They soon came upon a hole in the stone wall. Brightscales halted, "Renault, do you have any sneak training?"

"What?"

"Can you sneak up on people?"

"No, it never came up in combat training."

Brightscales cursed. "Ok, just stick behind me and do what I do. My skill level should be high enough to get them before they spot you."

"What are you talking about?" Renault asked, but the Argonian had already moved on. He snuck through tunnels that were now of natural formation. Dripping stalactites loomed from the roof, dripping down to form their floor twins, stalagmites.

They passed three sets of hanging skulls which dangled before a door to the next area. A shiver went down Renault's spine, but Brightscales only poked the nearest skull and said, "Cool!"

* * *

A _twang_ hummed through the air as Brightscales's bowstring released an arrow towards a target Renault could not see. Another _ping_ rang through the air, which was followed by the sound of a falling body. Brightscales straightened up and began looting the lair of the goblin he had just killed. He drew the arrow out of the goblin's skull with a wet _squelch_ and wiped it on the goblin's belongings that were not of value. It was a strange thing to watch Brightscales at work, because he never used the lockpicks he picked up. He merely used his strange Tildemancy to unlock all of the doors and chests he came across. And the way he treated bodies… Sometimes he would just stop and shoot an arrow into a corpse to "see how cool it looked with an arrow in that spot". And he often dragged goblin bodies around to be in the bonfires, claiming that "body arrangement is a lost art."

They came upon a large cavern, in which Brightscales managed to make three impossible shots with his bow. He shot two goblins, a warrior and a berserker, from around corners and from at least 60 yards away, and through their heads no less. Then he topped it with a seventy-five yard shot against the goblin witch. The goblin shaman staff fell from the witch's grip as her body tumbled over into her cauldron, boiling her alive if she had not died from the arrow through her chest. He finished off the last goblin, which was inside the pit in the center of the cavern, with an arrow to the back of the head as he walked past. He strode up the ramp at the other end of the room, Renault following. He arrived at another door and strode through it as it opened in front of him. He cocked his head as he heard voices coming from the hall below the hole in the wall he was standing in. The Emperor and his guards were passing by. It wouldn't do to have Renault meet back up with them after "dying". He had to make arrangements….

"Listen, Renault. I'll have to get you out of here by… unorthodox means. I suggest meeting me in my home down near Gnoll Mountain. I'll send you to the doorstep. My assistant will ready some quarters for you if you tell him I sent you. Wait for me there until I figure out what to do with you.

Renault wondered what he could mean by that. "How am I supposed-"

She disappeared in a swirl of light. Brightscales turned around and continued on to his meeting with the Emperor.

* * *

"-to get there?" Renault finished as her feet hit cold cobblestones. She looked around frantically. Where was she? She saw a series of stone steps leading up to a bizarre tower that sat atop a mountain, ascending into the low clouds that circled Gnoll Mountain. Snow swirled around her as she shivered due to the swift climate change. Her armor wasn't suited for cold weather, and she knew she should get inside.

She went up the steps to the massive door. She hesitantly raised a gauntleted hand, paused a moment, then knocked nervously on the massive metal door. It clanged loudly, which resonated into the chamber within with the percussive force of a gong.

The door cracked open and a massive gold-tinted eye with a silvery blue circle appeared in the small gap. _Yes?_ _Whatever it is you're selling, we're not interested, _came a voice that rumbled in her head.

* * *

**A/N: Well, this was really an interesting write. It certainly got my creative juices going, particularly because Valen Dreth's a fun guy to work with. Can any of my readers guess what's going to happen next and who this golden-eyed wonder is? Although this will be harder to find, though, and might not get as many readers because it's a crossover.**

**At least it's a decent length story. I felt as though I deserved my truly loyal readers some sort of gift for Christmas, after having left them hanging for so long, them having to wait for my Inheritance Cycle story.**

**Any thoughts?**

**-=Commentaholic=-**


	2. Chapter One: It's Just A Suggestion

**Blurring Reality**

By Commentaholic

**A/N: Well, the first chapter was a huge hit (surprisingly…). I wasn't really expecting much of a turnout, it being the only story in its genre (Oblivion/Inheritance Cycle Crossovers), so 3 reviews was a huge surprise! One being from Arty (of course) and the other from a concerned fan of Alagaësia's New Dragon searching for what has been distracting me; and the other being from Dualkatanas, my other loyal reader from the Oblivion genre.**

**Well, time for another humorous adventure in the world of Cyrodiil with our good friend Brightscales.**

**A long wait, and sort of disappointing for my regular readers that I'm not updating A.N.D., but LIVE WITH IT. I like this story! :D.**

**Read and Review!**

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**Chapter One**: _It's Just a Suggestion, after all._

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Brightscales turned from the swirl of whiteness that had engulfed Renault's form, heading towards the breach in the wall of the Imperial Subterranne. He heard voices arguing from the hall below, where the two remaining Blades and the Emperor were heading through a small walkway set into the stone. The spry Argonian dropped down onto the ledge below the gaping hole in the wall without a sound, his leather boots muffling the sound of his landing.

"I say we just hole up and protect the Emperor until help arrives."

"_Help? _What makes you think there'll be any help?"

The squabbling was broken up by the fanatical whoops of more Mythic Dawn agents, the shouts accompanied by the sound of conjured armor appearing and blades being drawn. Brightscales peered around the corner to see the Blades struggling with three more armored robe-clad cultists. He whipped his bow from its position on his back and brought an arrow to the string. He lined up the shot along the shaft and let loose the arrow into the back of a mace-wielding assassin. The black conjured armor dissipated in a cloud of red mist as the assassin pitched forward to the ground at Glenroy's feet, an arrow sprouting from his back. The Blade's gaze darted around for a moment, searching for the source of the projectile, before he turned to the new assailant that had appeared in the archway ahead of their group.

Brightscales nailed this next cultist in the strange mask that covered the assassin's face, eliciting a brief crack as the mask shattered before the armor completely vanished in the same red mist.

Baurus swept his katana around to cut the next assassin down, ending the fight. Even though the danger had passed, Brightscales did not reveal himself. Instead, he watched with a grin on his face as the Blades kept pestering the Emperor about the fact that they should "get moving, your majesty". The Emperor just kept refusing, insisting that, "he had to rest for a moment".

Brightscales took a few moments to take an inventory of his equipment. He noticed with a grimace that he was almost out of arrows. Perhaps loosing so many into the miscellaneous bodies that filled the passageways behind him wasn't the best idea, especially since he left them in the corpses. He made a note to himself to get some more once he got out of here. He looked down at the Emperor and his Blades, who had not yet moved from their positions. He figured that he'd taken enough time. He dropped down behind them silently, and when nobody noticed him, he tapped his bow against the stone pillar next to him. The Blades wheeled around at the unexpected sound, drawing their katanas.

"Damn it!" Glenroy shouted, "It's that prisoner again! Kill him, he might be working with the assassins!" He growled menacingly at Brightscales, who just started laughing. The silvery-scaled Argonian began to double over in laughter, hands on his knees to keep himself standing.

"Silence!" Glenroy yelled, "What's so funny?" The Argonian wiped a few humor-induced tears from his eyes.

"Nothing, it's just that you're...threatening ME!" The Argonian launched into another fit of giggles, receiving strange looks from everyone present, even the normally pensieve and collected Emperor.

"SHUT UP! Or I'll rip your tongue out, Argonian!" Glenroy shouted, desperately trying to be heard over the din caused by the laughter's echoing off of the stone walls.

"No," the Emperor said, raising his hand, "He is not one of them, anyway."

"As you wish, your Excellency" the Blades said in unison, sheathing their blades. The Emperor beckoned to the Argonian.

"Come closer, I'd prefer not to have to shout."

The Argonian took a step forward, then seemed to think better of it, smiling mischievously. He jumped across the sunken path in the middle of the room, avoiding the Emperor. The Blades stared at the duo, mouths gaping open as the Argonian leapt across the sunken lane each time the Emperor approached. The Emperor would then walk back down the path, going up the small set of stairs to the opposite side of the lane. This process repeated about a dozen times until the Argonian finally allowed the Emperor, who was breathing heavily with exhaustion at this point, to approach.

"They to not understand why I trust you. They have not seen what I have seen. How can I explain...? Listen, you know the Nine? How they guide our fates with an invisible hand?"

Brightscales laughed, "I'm not on too good of terms with the Nine. Mainly because of the power I wield. Some might deem it... unholy in its effectiveness."

The Emperor gave a small smile, "I have served the Nine all my days, and I chart my course by the cycles of the heavens. The skies are marked with numberless sparks, each a fire, and every one a sign. I know these stars well, and I wonder... Which sign-"

The Argonian didn't even hesitate for a moment in his reply, interrupting the Emperor, "The Shadow."

The Emperor continued, "The signs I read show the end of my path. My death, a necessary end, will come when it will come."

Brightscales looked off at mid-air once more, "And what about me?" he said, boredom evident in his voice.

"Your stars are not mine. Today, the Shadow will hide you from destiny's cunning hounds."

Brightscales gave a little chuckle, "And hopefully a couple guards, as well. Let's get going. The tongue shriller than all the music calls, and who are we to keep it waiting?"

The Emperor's calm demeanor was shattered for a moment, his face showing some shock before he managed to compose himself once more. He gestured forward, "Indeed, let us continue on."

Baurus walked forward to hand the prisoner a torch, giving him a little talk about keeping out of the way. As this happened, Glenroy came over to the Emperor's side.

"Sire, we cannot be sure this lizard is to be trusted! We don't even know his name!" he said, whispering into the old man's ear.

"Oh hush up, Glenroy." the Argonian called over his shoulder as he peered into the darkness of the next hall, "You can call me Brightscales if it makes you feel any better." Brightscales then leapt off into the gloom, torch held high and sword at the ready.

The Emperor patted Glenroy on the Blade's armored shoulder, "You may not understand now, Glenroy. You may never understand, but that Argonian will play an important part in the trials ahead." Uriel then continued after the Argonian at the brisk pace the silver-scaled prisoner had set, closely followed by Baurus.

* * *

"Hold up, I don't like the look of this-" Glenroy said, holding up a gauntleted hand. Brightscales rolled his eyes and pushed past the Blade, snorting in annoyance.

"Glenroy, please. It's better to get this over with as quickly as possible. The sewers are just ahead, and we're almost out of here." Only the Emperor noticed the small grimace of regret on the Argonian's face as Brightscales continued on towards the room below. "Oh look, what a surprise, this gate is barred from the other side."

Glenroy's eyes widened in panic and wariness, "It's a trap!"

Baurus stepped forward, pointing at a dimly-lit archway off to the side, "What about that side passage?"

"It's worth a try!" Glenroy replied, striding carefully into the small room through the stone arch. Baurus followed him while Brightscales and the Emperor exchanged meaningful glances before following the cautious Blades. They heard Baurus give out a cry of dismay as the room they were investigating turned out to be a dead end.

"What do we do now, sir?" the Redguard asked Glenroy.

Glenroy's eyes peered sideways at the archway they had just entered. The sound of conjured armor spells activating filled the main chamber. "Behind us, we must protect the Emperor."

Baurus paused a moment before following Glenroy outside, "Stay with the Emperor, prisoner." Baurus commanded, emphasizing each word firmly, "Guard. Him. With. Your. Life." He then drew his katana and ran to meet the hordes of assassins spilling into the antechamber from previously concealed side passages. Before his ears were filled with the sounds of weapons meeting in resounding clangs, Baurus could hear the Emperor begin to hurriedly speak to the Argonian in hushed whispers.

* * *

Emperor Uriel Septim VII, son of Pelagius IV, twenty-first Emperor of the Septim Dynasty, grasped Brightscales' blunt-clawed hand, looking the Argonian straight in the eyes. Piercing blue met irridescent green, eyes locked in a holding gaze.

"My guards are strong and true, but even the might of the Blades cannot stand against the Power that rises to destroy us. The Prince of Destruction awakes, born anew in blood and fire. These cutthroats are but his mortal pawns." The Emperor pressed something into Brightscales' palm. "Take my amulet. Get it to Jauffre. He alone knows where to find my last, secret son. Find the last of my blood, and close shut the marble jaws of Oblivion."

Brightscales looked down at the ruby-jeweled amulet that now rested in his palm. It glowed in a pulsing rhythm from within, illuminating the thin golden frame and chains that comprised the rest of the piece of jewelry. He started to look up, "I can protect you, you know. I know a place..." he began, but his words trailed off as he saw the Emperor's body pitching forward onto the ground, a red-clad assassin behind him, outstretched blade covered in blood. Brightscales cursed and leapt backwards to buy enough time to draw his sword and bring it up to block the swinging blade of the assassin. Brightscales' blade quivered under the assassin's heavy blows.

_Dammit, _thought Brightscales as he attempted to get his back to the door so that he could make a break for it, _I'm an archer, not a swordsman! I have to get out of- _The katana he was so unskillfully wielding snapped under a particularly ferocious attack by his enemy. His only thoughts as he stumbled into the wall were: _I should have saved back there._

A fierce yell shattered his thoughts as Baurus plunged past him to cleave his assailant almost clean through from left shoulder to right hip. Before Brightscales had the time to revel in his good fortune, Baurus knelt by the Emperor's prone form, dimming the elation previously felt by the Argonian.

"Talos save us..." the Redguard murmured, closing the Emperor's eyes. He rose, a grim expression on his face, "We've failed...I've failed... The Blades are sworn to protect the Emperor, and now he and all his heirs are dead!" Baurus's look of sorrow turned into a look of confusion as he noticed that something was missing. "Where is the Amulet of Kings? It wasn't on the Emperor's body!"

Brightscales held up his hand to show the amulet, which still glowed in its pulsing red light, "The Emperor gave it to me."

"Strange..." Baurus said, "He trusted you, for some reason. It may have been the dragon blood that they say runs through the veins of every Septim. They see more than lesser men. Did he say why he gave it to you?"

Brighscales was about to roll his eyes, but checked himself because of what would likely be Baurus's reaction. "He told me to take it to Jauffre. Told me there was another heir, and that Jauffre would know where to find him."

"Nothing I would know about," replied Baurus, "But if there was another heir, Jauffre would be the one to know about them. He's the Grandmaster of the Blades, though you wouldn't think so if you saw him."

"And where would I find him?"

"You wouldn't think it to see him, but he resides near Chorrol in Weynon Priory, posing as a priest of the Order of Talos there. It is a chapelhouse of our order."

Brightscales turned to leave, "I should probably get going."

"Wait," Baurus said, halting the Argonian in his progress, "Here is the key to the sewers. I'll be staying here to guard the Emperor's body." He handed over a small oddly-toothed key. "There are rats down there, and maybe a couple goblins, but from what I've seen, you're an experienced Nightblade, right?"

The Argonian chuckled, _Nightblade... Just a nice way of saying Assassin. _"Yeah, something like that. By the way, here's Renault's sword. Make sure it has a place of honor."

"I will," the Redguard said, accepting the katana. Brightscales didn't mention that he had a couple more to spare. The silvery Argonian proceeded down into the sewers through the passageway that the assassin had used to enter the room where the Emperor had been. Baurus was right, there were a few pesky rats, but he dispatched them easily. He then dealt with the pair of goblins residing down there, as well. One of them had a quiver of ten iron arrows, which Brightscales was happy to loot the goblin's corpse for, as he was low on his supply of arrows. After climbing a brief flight of stairs and walking down a long tunnel, he finally emerged into the blinding light of day, which hurt his eyes after such a long duration of time underground. He gazed over Lake Rumare at the white marble ruins of Vilverin, which gleamed in the sunlight. He smiled, time to acquire some more arrows.

After getting a sneak-attack on the bandit archer in the camp outside the ruins, the bandit axeman was also easy to deal with Brightscales now had a supply of about fifty arrows, which would last him a while if he opted to retrieve the ones he shot from the corpses of his fallen foes. He shaded his eyes from the glaring sun as he gazed across the short stretch of water that separated him from the northern mainland. He could head off to Jauffre like an obedient little errand boy, but then again... He shifted his gaze towards the Imperial Waterfront, which was mostly obscured by the towering walls of the Imperial City. Jauffre could wait.

* * *

Antonio Previus was a guard for the Imperial City. As a member of the Imperial Legion, he was sworn to protect the innocent, apprehend criminals, and generally keep the peace. He had joined the Legion at a post in Morrowind, and had been transferred to the Imperial City post after 15 years of service in the Ashlands. His armor was battered but strong, and was evidence of many hard-fought battles. He bore a spiked shield that bore the silver, blue and gold that were the symbols of his position. It had taken quite a few years of hard work, but he had finally earned the calm station that he had long yearned for, having been assigned as the Guard Captain of the Waterfront.

Occasionally that overly-obsessed Guard Captain, Hieronymous Lex, would come down from the main city and march patrols through the Waterfront on the pretense of searching for his "Gray Fox" nemesis. Personally, Antonio didn't believe in the so-called Lord of Thieves, mainly because IF there was a man who could organize all of the beggars and thieves under one banner, he sure wouldn't be hiding in the Imperial Legion's backyard. It just didn't make sense that the Gray Fox would risk that much. Although, if the rumors he had heard were true, the Gray Fox did have a habit of openly taunting Hieronymous Lex in notes left behind after particularly daring heists. Perhaps the half-mad Guard Captain was right. Maybe the master thief _was_ hiding among the ramshackle buildings that lined the waterline, an area more commonly known as the slums.

Antonio nodded his helmeted head at Lotanus, another guard on patrol in the Waterfront area. To be honest, Lotanus' talents would probably be of more use in the Arena district, where roudy gamblers often got into brawls about the latest victor. Lotanus, as an Altmer, had an astounding affinity for illusion magic, which came in handy in calming such fights down. Antonio had put in a recommendation for a transfer a few days earlier, but so far nothing had come of it. The Altmer deserved a better post than to be walking amid the foul stench arising from the sewer grates that dotted the waterline.

As he strode along his patrol route, Antonio passed the rough-looking group of sailors that had come in on the galleon a few days earlier. They eyed him warily, the female Dunmer among them snarling at the Legion soldier. Although Antonio was quite certain that they were pirates, for he had seen several boxes being stowed away in their hold, mostly marked as belonging to a prominent Black Marsh shipping company, he could not arrest them without due cause. He was a man who followed the law, and he upheld it as such.

He reached the end of the cobbled path and turned around again, passing the broad staircase that led to the slums. As he passed the archway, he could've sworn he saw a blurred figure dash between buildings. He paused, stepping back into the archway to investigate. His natural curiosity hinted that something was amiss, and as a guard, he could not leave a mystery unsolved. He carefully stepped down the stairs, passing into the slums, peering left and right until he got to the alleyway that he had seen the shape dart into. He peered into the gap, and, seeing the figure disappear around the corner down the alley, followed it. He emerged onto the beach that was the edge of the poor district, looking for the figure, but it was nowhere to be found. He heard Lotanus call out to him that their shift was over. Although it wasn't like him to leave something like this alone, the next shift would likely discover it, and he would be sure to order them to get the investigation fully recorded.

Antonio turned back towards the way he had come. The last sound he heard was the sound of an arrow whistling through the air towards him before it embedded itself through his helm and into his skull, ending his life.

* * *

"Wha- What? Who are you?" Renault asked, terrified at the voice that resonated in her head.

_No, the question is: What are you doing here, Renault? Oh wait... Don't tell me. Brightscales has been busy again, hasn't he?_ The golden eye in the barely-ajar door closed in a moment, and Renault could hear a deep sigh. _Well, come on in. You'll catch your death of cold out there._ The door eased open to reveal a massive, gold-scaled dragon, which had turned and begun to head back inside from the foyer that Renault now found herself in, and into the main room of the tower. It paused, swinging its head back to face her. _Well, are you coming or not? _Renault snapped out of her daze and carefully walked inside. She made to close the door, but the dragon's voice, for it must have been his voice, spoke again in her head _Leave it, the door will close on its own. _Sure enough, the door had begun inching shut behind them, slowly blocking the cold weather outside. Renault looked behind the door to see a mechanism of gears that was slowly closing the door automatically.

Renault turned to look at the dragon in amazement. She realized that she must be the first mortal to gaze upon a dragon in over half a century, or perhaps even since the last Era. The histories of the empire spoke of the dragon race having been driven to the brink of extinction by the endless hordes of Cliff-racers that had invaded their mountain territories in Morrowind and Vvardenfell. The last dragon was rumored to have been slain by the Ayleid cultist, Umaril the Blasphemer, also known as Umaril the Unfeathered. He supposedly had seen their mastery over the sky and of fire to be unholy and an affront to the daedric gods he so foolishly followed.

Modern worshippers of the daedric lords could not find any trace of the rhetoric he spouted as he mounted his genocidal assault on the remaining dragons. The Divine Crusader of the time, Pelinal Whitestrake, had attempted to save the dragons, but had arrived too late, instead arriving just as Umaril had slain the last dragon elder. Pelinal had attempted to avenge the dragons by defeating Umaril, but had only managed to banish Umaril from the physical realm. Pelinal and his followers had spent many following years attempting to find a way to end Umaril completely, thus fulfilling the complete vengeance, but had failed.

But the dragon before her was obviously very much alive. It was almost like being in the presence of a near-deity, the form of a dragon having been used as the depiction of Akatosh, the Dragon God of Time. They had been so revered during their short time in Cyrodiil that their likeness was used on the Sigil of the Imperial line of Emperors. Renault followed the dragon down a side passage, where it lay down in one of two bowls set into the ground and lined with cushions for comfort. The dragon spoke again, its voice seemingly a little annoyed.

_So, what has my friend been up to this time? Besides saving you, of course. I suppose he decided to shove himself into the Imperial Prison, am I right? _Renault began to reply, but had barely gotten a word out before the dragon interrupted. _Of course he did, or else why would you be here? _The dragon snorted, a small gout of flame spewing briefly from each nostril, _Sometimes I don't know why I bother with him. My name's Glaurung, by the way. _

Renault's head was swarming with questions: What was this place? How did Glaurung survive the scouring of his kind? Who exactly was Brightscales?

She looked at the other bowl of cushions, a question forming on her lips, when suddenly Glaurung looked up, gazing upward, as if through the walls of the tower.

_One moment._ Glaurung rose and prodded a lever set into the wall with his snout, switching it up into a new position. A grinding of gears came from above, and a massive metal plate slid aside, revealing an opening that had been previously obscured. Glaurung turned back to Renault,_ She will be glad to have another female to talk to. It's been quite a while since we've had company._

A graceful, sapphire-scaled dragoness swooped in through the opening, pirouetting in mid-air and then flapping slowly to lower herself softly to the ground. Renault was dumbstruck at the hue of the dragoness's scales, as even the highest quality gems in the Imperial Vault could not match their beauty. The dragoness nuzzled Glaurung as she passed him on her way to her bowl of cushions, then looked at Renault for a moment, her blue eyes almost seeming to pierce into the Blades' very soul. _And who are you?_ the blue dragoness asked.

_Saphira, this is Renault, a member of the Emperor's personal guard. She recently had an... accident, and Brightscales idiotically got himself involved and sent her here. She's a friend._

The blue dragoness, whom Renault now knew as Saphira, re-directed her gaze back towards Renault after nodding to Glaurung, _Well, any friend of Glaurung's is a person I can trust. _She looked at Glaurung again, _To be honest, though, Glaurung, I don't know why you let Brightscales out of your sight. He always gets in trouble when he goes off on his own. _

Glaurung snorted indignantly, _It's not as though I can stop him. His power enables him to come and go as he pleases in the blink of an eye. I couldn't stop him even if I pinned him to the ground and bit his limbs off! I find that it's better not to offend someone of his abilities. Trust me, it just won't work out if you try to control him. He's much like me in that respect, not being one for submission._

Saphira chuckled in a choppy growl, _I seem to recall that I beat you in most of our fights, and you are rather eager to submit when I do._

Glaurung growled, _You would, too, if you were a male and I had my claws dangerously close to the part of my body that you were threatening._

Renault merely listened to this exchange with her mouth agape as the dragons continued to bicker in their joking manner. Not only were there two dragons, but they were odd, and did not speak in a traditional manner. _One thing's for sure, _Renault thought, _Nothing's going to be the same after this gets out. _

_

* * *

_

**-A/N: Well, finally finished this chapter. I thought I'd end on a humorous note. I do feel sorry for Antonio though. According to one of my friends, it's kind of like pulling a Vampire Diaries thing: Creating a character with their own opinions, attitudes, and personalities, and then killing them off. Although, this story isn't going to be as straight forward as some of you might guess. Don't jump to conclusions.**

**This is the first of what I hope to be a series of four updates of a few of my various stories within the next week, so stay tuned into CMNTV (Commentaholic Television) for what's up next!**

**-=Commentaholic=-**


	3. Chapter Two: When Good Dragons Go to War

**Blurring Reality**

By Commentaholic

**A/N: Well, here we go again. It takes me FOREVER to get around to every story I'm writing right now. For you fans of this, I apologize for the numerous waiting periods.**

* * *

**Chapter Two**: _When Good Dragons Go to War_

* * *

Brightscales looked up in alarm as a scream pierced the calm evening air.

He peered around the corner towards the Waterfront's huddle of ramhackle buildings. "I wonder what that was..." he murmured.

"Are you going to buy anything or are you just going to continue wasting my time?" asked a rather annoyed Vorlon the merchant, who was glaring at Brightscales. It was enough that he'd been hauled out of his bedroll to vend some of his wares this late at night. What was worse was that his rude awakening had come at the hands of a filthy Argonian. Stupid scale-heads, he thought, always wasting my time.

Brightscales snatched up the silver dagger that he had been examining, threw a handful of septims on the counter, and ran towards the direction of the disturbance. "Keep the change!" he shouted over his shoulder.

Sweeping the dropped coins into his hand, he quickly counted them out of habit. He cursed as he noticed that he'd been shorted by 30 septims. Damn Argonians... He made a mental note to report that strange lizard to the guards the next morning.

Vorlon sighed with relief as his head sank back onto the pillow of his bedroll, drifting off to sleep.

He never saw the knife coming.

* * *

Brightscales skidded to a halt as he turned the corner. The aroma of blood permeated the area around a fallen guard. A dark elf woman had pressed herself against the wall of the nearest building, hands raised protectively before her. Brightscales lit a torch and went closer.

"What happened here?" Brightscales asked. The woman only shook her head, mumbling incoherently. Brightscales knelt beside the Legion soldier. From the sigil on the armor, it was quite obviously a Captain who lay on the ground before him. And he was quite obviously dead. After all, not many can withstand an arrow to the face, and those who can do so did not dwell on this terrestrial plane.

"You can go, if you want. I will handle this," he said to the dunmeri female who still stood behind him, shaking. She nodded emphatically and departed as fast as her legs could carry her.

Brightscales carefully tried to remove the arrow from the dead man's face, but the arrowhead snapped off as he pulled on the shaft, leaving the metal barb embedded in the man's flesh. It had been quite a shot, to be honest, and Brighscales was impressed with the shooter's accuracy. To shoot an arrow through a man's eye, back through the optic nerve and into the brain... He shuddered with excitement. That was the kind of shot that one such as himself could only imagine accomplishing.

Of course, that didn't make the task of getting the arrowhead out any easier. He would have left it, but he didn't want to just leave the body like that. Blood coated his hands as he dug the arrowhead out with the silver dagger he had just purchased.

"Ha! Got it!" he said to himself as he held up the arrowhead before dropping it into a pouch at his waist. Brightscales was also a bit of a pack-rat.

"Stop! You've violated the law!"

_Oh god..._

He ran.

_-=Half an hour later...=-_

Brightscales put his hands on his knees as he almost keeled over from exhaustion, clothes waterlogged from head to toe as he stood on a sand-covered shoreline. He decided to ignore the stupid mudcrab that was slowly waddling its way towards him.

That guard hadn't given up easily. It had taken diving to the bottom of Lake Rumare to shake him off, and even then, the guard had very persistently attempted to dive to catch the silver-scaled Argonian. But it seemed as though he'd shaken the guard, at least for...

"This is the part where you fall down and bleed to death!"

Nope. Time to run again.

* * *

Glaurung looked down on hopeful-faced Renault as she looked up at him.

_No._

The innocent face that Renault had plastered on melted away in an instant, revealing a small snarl.

"I demand to be allowed to go into town! You can't keep me here!"

_As a matter of fact, I can, and I will. Brightscales already made things worse by sending you here. You, a dead person, will cause quite the stir if you waltz into Bruma to borrow a cup of sugar or something._

"Waltz?"

_Never you mind. The answer is still no. You can't go into town. _Glaurung finished, looking away to solidify the fact that the debate was over.

Saphira yawned as she stirred, _You're making a terrible amount of noise. I was having a lovely dream._

Glaurung stammered a hurried apology, Saphira obviously enjoying her friend being uncomfortable.

_Glaurung, I could take her out for a fly if that'll make her keep quiet. _The sapphire-scaled dragoness looked over at Renault, who looked very shocked indeed. _I need to stretch my wings anyway._

"Me? Riding a dragon? I couldn't possibly!"

_Why not? It's not like it's special, is it?_

"Of course it is! I know not where you hail from, dragons, but here in Cyrodiil, dragons are sacred beings. As a mere mortal, I wouldn't dare to do such a thing." Renault babbled, obviously overwhelmed by the offer.

_Nonsense, Renault. I am offering freely. Where I come from, dragons like me were rarely seen in public without a...rider... _Saphira's sentence cut off mid-phrase. Tears began gathering at the edges of her beautiful blue eyes. Glaurung was at her side in a second.

_It's okay, Saphira. We'll get back to him someday,_ he said soothingly. _Whatever Brightscales did to get us here, I swear I will make him undo._

_I know, Glaurung, I just miss him so much. How will the Varden fare without me there to combat that red menace? Who will keep my little one out of trouble?_

_I'm sure they'll find a way, Saphira, at least until we get back. And besides, as long as I am here with you, I won't rest until we return._

Renault could only look on, feeling a bit awkward as she watched Glaurung comfort Saphira concerning a topic about which she could only speculate.

Renault was surprised, then, when Saphira's claw tapped her on the top of the head. _You coming?_

Saphira had a leather saddle on, carefully placed on her back by Glaurung, and had crouched down to allow easier mounting. Renault cautiously (and reverently) got up into the saddle.

"Is there anything I need to do?"

_I would recommend strapping yourself in. It should be quite the ride, _Glaurung laughed.

"What do you me-WHAAAA!" Renault's question turned into a shriek of fright as Saphira launched herself into the air, exiting the tower through the opening in the roof. The blue-scaled dragoness arced up into the sky, weaving between the clouds. Glaurung chuckled to himself as his eyes followed them until they disappeared from his vision.

* * *

Okay, there was no way in Oblivion that the guard had followed him here. Brightscales rested his hands on his knees as he leaned against a wall, trying to catch his breath from all the running. I guess that persistent nature is the first thing they drill into prospective Legion recruits.

Brightscales didn't know how long he'd been running. He had just ran south as fast as he could, hoping to shake the guard off on some random mudcrab or troll. He had spotted the ruins of a building on a bleak-looking shore and had dived into the water immediately, hoping to hide in the shattered timbers. He was partially right. The guard had given up. But now where in Oblivion was he?

He finally looked around at the place that he'd ducked into. He had found a door under the water and had gone into it immediately. "Any port in a storm," as the old adage went. Stalagmites jutted up from the ground, spiking up towards their stalagtite brethren where they rested in the ceiling. A fallen tree lay across a circle of stone bricks in the center of the room. Some ancient stonework arches were visible in the half-light, leading off into other chambers.

"What is this place...?" Brightscales asked to no one in particular. This place was deserted, anyway. The air was stale and musty. This place must have been abandoned for a few centuries at least. Possibly since the last age. Brightscales made to move deeper into the ruins, but his leg struck something, a wooden stool with some sort of journal on it. The jostling provided by his leg hitting the stool's side knocked over the stool, sending the book tumbling into the slanting pool of water that Brightscales had just climbed out of. Some shining orb fell into its depths, but Brightscales was more worried about the book itself. Call him a bibliophile if you wish, but he never wished to see harm inflicted on a book.

He scrambled to rescue the dusty tome from the water. Opening it, he cursed as some pages' ink had blurred together, their contents forever lost to the ages. Other pages, however, spoke of a lost society devoted to a being they called Sithis. They were the Crimson Scars. The journal had belonged to a man named Greywyn, who had been a member of this group. They were vampiric members of the Dark Brotherhood, another guild of assassins that still existed today. They were cast out and destroyed by their non-vampiric brethren, leaving only Greywyn and one or two members still alive, evading the assassins, biding their time.

Brightscales turned the page. This was all sounding a little familiar, though he didn't quite know how.

The journal's final page held hints that the man who had written it had somehow found a cure for vampirism and, presumedly, died due to the rapid onset of the age he had accumulated in his time as a vampire.

Brightscales looked around at the decrepid ruin before flipping back to a page he had noticed before. It spoke of a... Rowley Eardwulf as one who could help restore this place called... "Deepscorn Hollow" to its former glory.

Placing the book into his seemingly bottomless pack, Brightscales clapped his hands a few times to clear the dust from them. "Time to get to work!" he said as he vanished in the now-familiar swirl of light.

* * *

Glaurung had been laughing before as Renault left on Saphira's back, but that was nothing compared to the uproar he was in as Saphira swooped down from the night sky, back through the opening in the roof. Renault was utterly terrified, and slipped slowly off of Saphira's saddle to collapse on the floor in a heap.

_Do you think that might've been a bit too much for her, Saphira? _

The sapphire-scaled dragon snorted, _That was nothing. I only did a couple loops._

Glaurung chuckled a little more before asking, _Where did you fly, anyway? You were gone for quite a while, and I lost mental contact with you for a time._

_Oh, I just thought I'd check out the land. I flew to the southwest, past the town, of course, and down to the greener lands. I figured I might as well get a good look around while I was hidden against the blue sky... But the skies soon turned red..._ Saphira became serious, _Glaurung, a city was burning. I think that's what gave Renault the majority of her scare._

_What, the whole city? _Saphira nodded. Glaurung thought for a moment. _Did it have a burning portal in front of its gates?_

Saphira nodded again.

_Ah, then that was Kvatch. The demon Mehrunes Dagon has begun his invasion of this realm._

Saphira growled at this, _It seems that no matter where we go, trouble follows. There's always some evil force out to destroy the world. I'm sick and tired of it. Let's go destroy him._

Glaurung's head jerked up from where he had begun resting it on the floor. _Destroy Dagon? We can't do that. He isn't through that portal, anyway. I'm sure Brightscales is on his way to destroy that portal... and if he isn't now, he will be soon._

_Glaurung, _Saphira said, putting her foot down, _I don't trust Brightscales' determination as much as you do. I'm going. If you want to come along, fine. _She launched herself into the air again, out the opening in the roof, and into the sky.

_I don't like this idea..._ Glaurung mused as he watched her leave. He tucked Renault away into the nest, locked the doors and secured them against being opened by anyone outside... or inside... before following Saphira into the air.

She was waiting just outside the opening, _Glad you decided to join me, _she said smugly.

_Oh... hush,_ he said, unable to think of a comeback. They winged southward for a bit before turning west towards Kvatch.

* * *

Brightscales grinned at Rowley Eardwulf, "But of course, Rowley. I am a loyal follower of Sithis, just like you."

"I'm not so sure, Argonian. Your eyes do not possess the aura of death that those of true assassins do."

"Oh, really?"

"Yes, really."

_Damn_, Brightscales had thought that it would be easier than this to convince the guy.

"Okay, so I haven't killed anyone yet. But I will, trust me."

Rowley crossed his arms.

"You're not going to sell me anything until I murder someone... aren't you?"

Rowley nodded.

Brightscales sighed, "Fine. I'll be back."

He got up and left the inn, drawing his cloak closer to his body, a bulwark against the cold night air. He looked up at the sky, Masser and Secunda standing bright against the darkness that was dotted with stars. He cracked his back as he stretched, sighing with satisfaction at the relief it brought. "Now what..." he whispered to himself.

"Might as well drop by the house to see how the 'kids' are doing," he said before walking off into the forest, heading north, unaware that he was being followed by a black-cloaked figure who crouched in the shadows.

* * *

Glaurung could taste the ash on the air long before the skies turned as red as blood, lightning shooting down to strike the ground below barely missing the two dragons. _We should get out of the sky. We can't dodge the lightning should it decide to be less merciful._

_Agreed_, Saphira murmured as they soared down to a small cliff outside of the burning city. The walls, or what was left of them, were before them, with no gate in sight.

_We must have landed on the wrong side of the city. Let's head around to the front, _Glaurung said, moving along the wall, Saphira trundling along behind him. Soon enough, they came around a corner to see a massive oval with a flat top, the fires of Oblivion itself drifting within its boundaries. A few soldiers were doing battle with the hellspawn that were spewing forth from the evil portal. Saphire growled, obviously ready to leap forward and get into the battle.

_Shall we go into battle, Glaurung?_

_We shall._

The two dragons leapt forward, catching a pair of Clannfear off-guard as they were torn to pieces by the dragons' ferocious attacks. The soldiers, once embroiled in combat, now stood slack-jawed as two dragons tore the invading demons to shreds.

Saphira finished off the last Stunted Scamp with a tail-whip, hurling the little imp into a wall where it impacted with a sickening crunch. Glaurung surveyed the battlefield, deemed it safe to relax, at least for the moment, before turning to the soldiers. _Which of you is Savlian Matius?_

"That would be I, mighty Akatosh," said a soldier, presumedly Matius by his own admission, as he stepped forward.

_Akatosh? _Glaurung said, confused, looking at Saphira for a moment. He looked down at himself, _Ohhh, dragon, golden scales, I see what you mean. No, I am not Akatosh, though. But we are here to help._

Glaurung and Saphira turned to look at the Oblivion Gate. _Ladies first? _Glaurung joked, _It WAS your idea after all._

_Age before beauty. _Saphira retorted.

_Pearls before swine, _Glaurung shot back.

_Oh... you. _Saphira said before leaping into the shimmering portal, shortly followed by Glaurung.

* * *

**A/N: Well, yet another chapter come and gone. To be honest, I had no idea what to write when I began writing more this morning. It just seemed to flow together, I guess. I'm just going to stop writing this Author's Note and begin working on another one of my submissions. I really am trying to step up the tempo. Shorter chapters are merely a result of this resolve.**

**-=Commentaholic=-**


	4. Chapter Three: Not another one!

**Blurring Reality**

By Commentaholic

**A/N: Updating? Again? Whoa!**

* * *

**Chapter Three: **_Not Another One!_

* * *

Glaurung recoiled from the sudden wave of heat that swept over Saphira and himself as they emerged into the plane of Oblivion. Lakes of lava were everywhere, spires of blackened rocks sprouted up everywhere and ash filled the air, making it difficult to breathe. _Blech! _he exclaimed, coughing. _You'd think that being a fire-breathing dragon would make one immune to this sort of thing._

_Baby, _Saphira joked, striding forwards, her eyes looking for more foes to defeat. It had been far too long since she'd had the chance to practice her combat skills. Glaurung rolled his eyes before following her, his weight cracking the volcanic stone underfoot.

They proceeded down a slight incline from the Gate, which burned brightly behind them, even amid the background fiery glow from the world around them. Blackened corpses were strewn across the area, some barely recognizable as Kvatch guards. And even then that was only because they were larger than the other corpses, which were obviously stunted Scamps. The two dragons were forced to halt their forward advance by two sets of massive gates that blocked the path. Beyond the metal barriers, one could see the bodies of more dead guards, who had obviously been caught in an ambush and trapped on the bridge. _Well, Glaurung, _Saphira began, _Where to go next?_

Glaurung looked over at Saphira, then looked around for an indication of where to go next. _Well, if that looming tower with the nefarious-looking light on it is any indication, I'd guess that's our destination. But with this gate blocking our path, I don't know how to get there... What?_

Saphira was giving him a look that said, _Really?_ She flapped her wings a few times before launching herself into the air, wings sending flurries of ash spiralling everywhere.

_Oh... right... _Glaurung mumbled before following her into the red sky. Saphira slowed down to allow him to catch up and then they flew in a circle around the main building, the Spire, as Glaurung called it. The ash drifting in the thermal winds made it harder to fly, but it was tolerable. There were no obvious entrances that could accomodate two dragons, though Glaurung did spot a large door on the bottom floor, down at the bottom of the tower. They glided down to the entrance, landing with twin thuds, cracking the ground beneath them.

The door towered over them in a grand archway made of black stone with red and orange engravings of a strange symbol that looked like an archway with a flat top, presumedly an Oblivion Gate. Glaurung was about to push the heavy door open, but then a voice that could be compared to rock scraping against metal screeched out, "**Begone, liz-!" **Glaurung turned around quickly, only to find Saphira throwing a heavily armored foe into a lava pit. It screamed in agony as it was consumed by the very liquid fires that it lived among.

She turned to Glaurung, who was standing there gaping. _Well? _Saphira asked, _Open the door already!_

_Oh, right._ Glaurung set his shoulder to the obsidian door and pushed hard, his claws digging into the ash-covered steps, carving furrows into the softer stone beneath him. After a few moments of strenuous pushing, the door shifted and slowly swung inward on massive hinges, revealing a large interior room with a spire of crimson flames shooting up through the roof, which ended up to be a shaft which led, Glaurung guessed, to the lit room at the top of the tower. An archway led off to the right, a small ramp leading up to the next floor. Through the hole in the ceiling, Glaurung could see the entire tower structure, a spiralling path leading around the central shaft.

A flicker of motion leapt around at the edge of the golden dragon's vision, causing him to look off to the left, but all he could see was a couple enemies making a hasty retreat through a side door. They obviously didn't want to confront the two dragons, which made Glaurung chuckle before continuing his search.

Under closer examination (and a few scraped scales) Glaurung discovered that the ramp was too small for him to fit, but Saphira would, if she tucked her wings close to herself. But Glaurung didn't want to separate. Anything could happen in this manufactured Hell. _We'll have to find another way to the top, _he said.

_Nonsense. We can see that there isn't another way from here. I'll go up and see if I can find another way to get you inside, _Saphira said, starting towards the archway. _Maybe I can knock over a wall or something. _She cut off Glaurung's protests with an upraised claw. _I'm not going to let you be over-protective this time. _

Saphira squeezed into the passageway, her tail betraying her eagerness in the way it was flitting back and forth.

_Just watch out for the traps, Saphira!_ Glaurung shouted after her. Saphira disappeared around the corner, heading up another small ramp to a place higher up in the tower.

_I'll be fine, Glaurung._

* * *

Glaurung's claw ticked off the rough stone floor as he tapped out his impatience with a single talon. It had been too long since Saphira had shut off her mind to him due to his incessant worrying, almost _ten minutes!_ The daedra had long since abandoned any sort of attack on the golden dragon, their earlier attempts having ended up as the ashes strewn across the floor. Funnily enough, these creatures who lived in a world of fire and lava didn't have that much of a resistance to fire, though that fire atronach had certainly given it a try. Saphira was making progress, there was no doubt about that. An occasional foe would tumble down through the tower's central shaft into the lava pit in the center of the room that Glaurung was in, no doubt thrown off by Saphira's berserk fighting style.

_Glaurung? Are you still there?_

Glaurung leapt to his feet, _Saphira, are you alright? Are you hurt? Are you-_

_I'm fine, stop worrying. I'm just stuck at the top of the ramp... It doesn't seem to go any higher, but there's some sort of stone platform with a magic circle inscribed on it up here. Any ideas?_

_Yes, if you were to step on that, it'd take you to the top of the tower where the sigil stone is, but-_ There was what could be compared to static across their connection. _Saphira, what was that?_

_I stepped on it. _Saphira replied.

_Saphira! I thought you were trying to find a way to get me up there! You can't go in there alone, you could get hurt! _Glaurung was cut off by the sound of Saphira's roar echoing down the tower's core, followed by the sound of cracking stone. _Saphira? _The sound of falling rocks came and of something _big_ falling down the shaft, hitting the sides and knocking away entire sections of the ramps that spiralled up. Glaurung didn't have to wait long, since gravity tends to be a speedy delivery boy. A stone slab, which glowed red and purple from the magical seals placed upon it, dropped through the hole in the ceiling, hitting the ridge above, which sent it ricocheting across the room from where Glaurung stood.

_Hop on._

_Always have to show off, don't you, Saphira? _Glaurung muttered as he stepped on the symbol-etched granite. He felt a strange sensation of his stomach lurching as the dark room around him faded away, leaving him looking at a ramp strewn with dead daedra. Above him, he could see the slot where the stone circle, which now lay at the bottom of the tower, had once been set. Saphira's smug face gazed down through the gap.

_You were saying?_

_Quiet you... _Glaurung said, stretching to reach up to the next level. His height permitted him to grasp a couple handholds that were set into the framework of the tower. He dug his claws into the walls as he made the climb up towards Saphira and the next level. Eventually, breathing heavily, he hauled himself over the rim of the next ramp. He lay there for a few seconds before standing. He looked around for the tell-tale door that would lead to the next part of the tower. He found it, but it wouldn't open. It was locked. _Hm..._

_What? _Saphira asked, puzzled.

_It's locked. _Glaurung replied, studying the door and looking around for the daedra that would no doubt have the key. _The key's got to be around here somewhere..._

_You can't be serious. _Saphira nudged Glaurung aside with her shoulder, stepped back a few paces, then rammed the door, which buckled under the impact. _Now you try, _she told Glaurung, the smug grin back on her face.

_Always have to out-do me, don't you..._ He said to Saphira,_ But that's what I love about you... _Glaurung finished to himself before taking his turn ramming the door. The door (along with a good portion of the wall around it) flew into the hallway beyond. Saphira went through first, followed by Glaurung, whose sides scraped against the edges of the hole he'd just made.

The corridor beyond was massive, large enough for both of them to stretch their wings out to either side, not that they needed to. A dragon never exposed his or her wings unless flight was their objective. In a hostile area, they kept their wings tucked in close to prevent damage to the delicate membrane, without which flight would be impossible. And a grounded dragon in hostile territory was a dead dragon in hostile territory.

Saphira made to step forward, but Glaurung grabbed her tail in his mouth and pulled her back just in time to avoid a huge, heavy blade swiping down from the wall, sending chips of stone flying up to bounce off Glaurung's scaly chest. _Be careful, please. I don't know what I'd do if you got hurt, _he said as his eyes followed the blade as it rose back up into the wall.

_You have more of a history getting hurt, if you would recall, _Saphira shot back slyly. Saphira's claw threw her claw forward before retracting it again, tripping whatever magical sensor triggered the blade. She hopped over the fallen edge quite spryly before looking back at Glaurung.

_What am I going to do with you... _Glaurung muttered, walking forward. The blade tried coming down again, but the golden dragon put his claw up to block it's reappearance from the slit in the wall before it could gain any momentum. Glaurung pivoted until his body was on the side where Saphira was, then released the trap, which fell, harming nothing besides the floor.

They found another door at the top of the stairs, this one a bit larger. It looked large enough to accomodate them both, so Saphira darted ahead to scout out the next room. Glaurung followed, albeit at a slower pace, before he suddenly stopped halfway through the door. His neck craned back to look at what happened, only to find himself wedged. The frame was tightly fitted around his waist, blocking his hind legs from coming through the door. _Crap. _He tried to pull himself backwards, but try as he might, he couldn't get loose. Saphira laughed uproariously as the golden dragon pondered how to escape.

_Perhaps you shouldn't have eaten that deer before we left, eh Glaurung?_ Saphira said, once she managed to stop her tide of laughter.

_Oh hush up and help me, Saphira. We can debate eating habits later._

Saphira set her shoulder against Glaurung's chest, pushing as he himself tried to extract himself from the doorway. They strained for a few moments before he popped from the door like a cork from a bottle. He slid backwards for a few feet before his claws caught on the floor, halting his movement.

_Well... now what? _Saphira asked, looking at the doorframe. _I suppose we could try breaking it like we did to the last door..._

_No... it'd be easier if you just grabbed the sigil stone. We'll both end up back in Cyrodiil once the flames subside. It's that rock at the top of the pillar of flame. All you need to do is remove it from the fire and this world will collapse, saving the town outside from the endless tide of foes that flow from this realm._

_... And you're sure that nobody's going to get trapped here? _Saphira asked, a little uncertain.

_Positive, _Glaurung said confidently.

_Alright..._ Saphira turned and went up the ramps to the top floor. Glaurung just settled in for the brief wait.

_"**Hello, my ancient foe. How wonderful to see you again."**_ came a gravelly voice from behind Glaurung.

_Wha- _Glaurung began, spinning his head around, but he was cut off mid-word by a blow to the head by a heavy axe handle, sending him into the dark abyss of unconsciousness. A red-skinned hand grabbed the golden dragon by the tail and dragged him down the corridor.

* * *

Saphira slew the final Clannfear with a mighty swipe of her claws, severing its head from its shoulders. _Die, you annoying excuse for a lizard!_ Saphira had really developed an animosity towards the things. They would charge at her, trying to headbutt her, and when they did, some strange strength that the things possessed would cause Saphira to flinch backwards, recoiling, even though Saphira had sustained much harder hits from the Kull.

After ascending what looked to be ramps made out of solidified blood, Saphira finally saw the object that Glaurung had described as a Sigil Stone. The sound of stone grinding against stone emitted from the thing, causing an ache in her skull as it reverberated around the room. _Hm... how would Glaurung say it... 'Time to rock and roll'? _Saphira said as she siezed the stone from the fire, which was surprisingly ineffective at being what fire generally was: hot. The fiery spire flared up for a moment before disappearing entirely, and instead, fire began sprouting up everywhere in the room. _Glaurung, I did it!_ she shouted. The tower began crumbling around her, a piercing tone building up in the background, raising to an irritating pitch.

* * *

Menien Goneld cowered in his cage, attempting to squirm away from the questing stick that was being shoved in his direction by his tormentor, a daedra in red and black armor. 'The Keeper', they called him, though he was little more than a master of the torturous arts. It felt as though he had been here forever since the failed attack on the Oblivion Gate. So many of his brethren had fallen, slain by the monsters they had come to defeat. Though... Menien's goal was a little less noble than the others who had entered the Gate to save Kvatch.

His family was dead, slaughtered before his very eyes as he fought to reach them. He failed to protect them and could not tear his gaze from them as his wife and daughter were torn limb from limb.

Menien had entered the gate to die, to join his family in the afterlife...

But even that fate had been kept from him. The monsters had taken him, him alone out of all of his fellow warriors. They had brought him to this tower to subject him to pain and torment, never ending suffering at the hands of the kin of those who had stolen his loved ones from him.

Cowering in the cage was all Menien could do. Awaiting the end, when his body could take no more, when his mind broke and physical wounds meant nothing. The end...

His eyes snapped open when the tower started shaking. _What?_ he thought. The Daedra were running around in panic, but afraid of what? What could strike fear into the monsters of Oblivion itself?

Then it hit him. Someone had managed to do the impossible. He had overheard some of the guards talking about the Sigil Stone that was the foundation of this plane of Oblivion. If it was removed, the world would fall apart. _Could someone have done it?_

He allowed himself the briefest sensation of hope before another tremor strengthened it. He stood, grasping the bones that made up the cage, "Die, you monsters!" he shouted at the daedra. Menien didn't know how many curses flew from his lips, accompanied by spittle, nor did he know where he had learned them all. All that mattered was that someone had managed to ruin the plans of the evil forces that had destroyed his life and his home.

The nearest daedra marched towards the cage, dark, jagged blade raised high for a finishing blow. Menien closed his eyes, feeling a peace come over him. _I'm coming, Elisa... _Then waited for the end.

The end that never came. He cracked his eyes open after a few moments, only to see a silver-scaled Argonian yanking a long blade out of the daedra's back. At a wave of the lizard's hand, the cage creaked open. As fire began to sprout up around them, the Argonian reached out a hand and after a dramatic pause...

"Come with me if you want to live."

Menien didn't know why his hand grasped the Argonian's hand, but a moment later, they disappeared into a cloud of white light.

* * *

**A/N: Yep, another chapter finished. Not sure what to say. I've certainly set a few things in motion that will no doubt raise a few questions.**

**A reference or two in here, if you can spot them.**

**-=Commentaholic=-**


	5. Chapter Four: Wait, Back up! What?

**Blurring Reality**

By Commentaholic

**A/N: Well, after last chapter's... eventful conclusion, I figured that I'd have to update rather soon. Er- Sooner than normal.**

**Ugh... not feelin' too chipper right now, but I'll try to do my best.**

* * *

**Chapter Four: **_Whoa... Back up a minute... What?_

* * *

Saphira shook her head to clear her vision as the earth-shaking _crack_ behind her indicated the collapse of the Oblivion Gate's now-disabled arch. After a few moments, her vision, previously half-blinded by the flash of light, began to return. She waited for Glaurung to make one of his trademark quips, but silence prevailed, except for the cheers of the surviving members of the Kvatch Town Guard.

_Glaurung?_ she asked, looking around, expecting to see her gold-scaled friend beside her but finding no trace of the other dragon. Panic began to seep into her thoughts. _Glaurung, where are you?_ she asked again, casting her mind in every direction in the hopes that he was there, but perhaps he had re-appeared elsewhere...

Nothing.

Now she was scared. Glaurung was always there. He'd never abandon her in this strange place... or ever, for that matter. Glaurung always seemed to be there to protect her from any possible trouble. But where was he?

Brightscales would know. He knew everything!

Saphira took to the skies, ignoring the shouts from the town guards below. She wasn't just going to sit around clearing the city while Glaurung was missing! The blue-scaled dragoness banked towards the northern skies.

Dark clouds turned to white mists as Saphira flew farther north. Skirting the town of Bruma, Saphira finally came to Frostcrag Spire, their home. The roof hatch swung open to admit her as she approached. She came down onto the cold stones, made all the more cold by frigid weather outside, her claws scrabbling as she made her rushed landing. Saphira's head darted around as she ran through the tower's tall archways, into rooms that she hadn't felt the urge to peruse at the time, not that she had the need to explore before.

As she ran through the long corridors, claws flying with the speed of her passing, a stray thought entered her head, one that only just barely managed to stop her dead in her tracks. Or... it would have if the floor hadn't had a thin layer of frost. Saphira skidded down the hall, leaving trails of ice chips where her talons had attempted to stop her motion. _How does this hallway even exist?_

Saphira looked out a nearby window. The view afforded to her through that glass pane was the same view as from the main hall. She had a very good memory, and it was the _exact. same. view. _She could see the stairs leading up to the door, but she was sure that she had to have run through at least a mile of hallways away from the entryway.

_What...?_

"It's bigger on the inside than it is on the outside, Saphira. Didn't you know that?" came a voice from behind. Saphira whirled to find Brightscales leaning against a doorframe, through which was a well-lit library was visible. Logs burned merrily in the fireplace within, casting a charming aura of light through the arch, the room radiating a comforting heat. So comforting, in fact, that Saphira almost forgot about why she'd been frantically running through the tower.

Shaking her head to focus, something that she had found herself doing quite often since she'd met Brightscales, Saphira approached the silver-scaled Argonian. _Glaurung's missing! Where is he! What are you going to do about it?_

The questions were many and rapidly delivered, ranging from Glaurung's well-being to what Brightscales intended to do about it and what Saphira could do to help. Saphira's mind was in a swirl of emotions: Fear, sorrow and panic batted at her mind before cycling back through to start again at fear.

Brightscales' eyes widened before he raised both scaly hands to halt the stream of questioning. "Wait, what? Glaurung's missing?"

Saphira nodded.

"Explain."

* * *

Brightscales stormed off, leaving Saphira blinking in surprise. Tears began to form in the corners of her eyes as what Brightscales had just said sank in.

**_-=A Few Minutes Earlier=-_**

_A vein bulged on the silver Argonian's forehead._

_"You did WHAT?" Brightscales bellowed._

_Saphira felt an odd feeling of familiarity with the aura emanating off of her silver-scaled acquaintance. It was the same aura that Glaurung had given off when a battered-looking Renault had shown up at the door, claiming to have been sent by Brightscales. _We... went to Kvatch? _Surely Brightscales had heard her the first time. It wasn't like mental messages stuttered._

_"And HE has the nerve to get after ME when I do stuff like that..." Brightscales said as he clasped his hands behind his back and began to pace up and down the corridor in front of Saphira, whose eyes were watching the Argonian with interest._

_She neglected to mention that the trip had largely been HER idea. _

_"So you say that you pulled the sigil stone, right?"_

Of course, _Saphira replied. She'd done exactly as Glaurung had instructed her, grabbing the spherical object out of the pillar of fire and waiting for the plane of Oblivion to collapse._

_"And do you still have the sigil stone? If he's trapped, that might be our only way of getting him out if he is indeed stuck there." Brightscales asked._

_Saphira froze, then coughed, _The stone?

_"Yes, the stone, do you still have it?"_

_Saphira didn't know when she had let go of the strange orb. It could have been as she re-appeared in Tamriel, or perhaps it was as she was flying at a ballistic speed to get back to Frostcrag Spire. For all she knew, it could be resting somewhere in the forest anywhere in the hundreds of miles between Kvatch and Frostcrag. And that was only if some creature, perchance a goblin, hadn't picked it up and spirited it away somewhere._

_Saphira gulped involuntarily. The look of impatience on Brightscales' face quickly grew to rage. "You don't have it!" He yelled. Saphira shook her head._

But can't you just go there with your magic? _Saphira asked, hoping to take Brightscales' mind off of how angry he was at her right now._

_"I can't go there if the place has collapsed out of existence, can I?" Brightscales asked, raising a hand before Saphira could answer, "Let me save you the trouble, NO! I CAN'T!"_

_Brightscales turned and walked away, mumbling and grumbling._

* * *

Saphira couldn't sleep at all that night without Glaurung's warmth next to her. She couldn't seek any comfort from the Argonian, because Brightscales was giving her the cold shoulder, having locked himself in one of the tower's upper rooms. Occasionally, small explosions could be heard from behind the sturdy wooden door. Saphira could only assume that the now-reclusive Argonian was trying to come up with a way to retrieve Glaurung from wherever he was. That, of course, required knowing where he was in the first place.

According to Brightscales, terse though his explanation was when he told it to Saphira, everything in an Oblvion plane, even the realm itself originates from the core palace belonging to each plane's respective Daedra Prince. And if that reality, that region, were to collapse, it would re-appear within said core palace. The hard part, he said, would rest with finding this palace, as it didn't exist in the world as he knew it. It existed _outside _of the world, yet in it. He didn't explain this concept to a rather confused Saphira, who had been trying to learn anything that she could to help retrieve her close friend... hopefully before anything hostile found him.

A few days passed without result. Renault tried to cheer up Saphira, even by offering to go on another flight with the depressed dragoness. Saphira wouldn't, though. She just waited around, hoping that Brightscales would come up with a solution.

At last, the Argonian emerged from the room, cursing as he tripped over Saphira's head, which had been right next to the door, chin resting on the floor. "Saphira!" he shouted, flashing his fangs in irritation. Saphira just raised her head to look Brightscales in the eye eagerly, more intent on learning why he had emerged.

Brightscales sighed as he saw the eager face of the sapphire-scaled dragoness. Rubbing the back of his neck, he met her gaze. "I can't do anything about it. I've exhausted every one of the methods listed in the library. And that library is _extensive_," Brightscales said. "But I'm afraid that without the sigil stone, there isn't much that I can do. All the remaining ways of entering a plane of Oblivion require a sigil stone and the magic to activate the portal. Now... the magic is no problem. This tower's full of the stuff. We just need the stone."

Saphira's head lowered to the floor once more. It broke Brightscales' heart to hear Saphira's moan of distress. He watched her for a moment before clenching his hands into fists.

Face set with resolve, Brightscales whirled and marched down the corridor, eventually coming to a dark room. Brightscales snapped his fingers and fire roared to life in the sconces around the hemispherical chamber, illuminating the large circle on the ground. The circle itself glowed with purple light along its many lines and symbols that criss-crossed within the boundaries of the ring. Brightscales climbed a staircase that wound its way clockwise up the wall towards a platform that hung suspended above the ring. On this platform was a podium with 5 sets of magetallow candles arranged at points on the rim of the platform, corresponding with five points on the circle below.

He cracked his knuckles, relishing the sensation of anticipation that it gave him. "Well... Let's do this thing." He waved his hands through the air in complicated gestures. Motes of light danced in the stale air of the room, spinning in circles around Brightscales' dancing fingers, moving faster and faster until they became a blur. Brightscales kept up the motions until the atmosphere of the room felt as if it were electrically charged. Outside the tower, mechanisms that only two people in history had ever figured out began to spin. A storm gathered overhead, lightning striking numerous locations on Gnoll Mountain. Then, with a shout, Brightscales plunged the glowing hands down onto the pedestal, shouting out words that nobody in any realm of Oblivion, Tamriel or anywhere else in any universe could recognize. "Plac'eeya'tame!" As soon as he had uttered these words, something akin to lightning plunged down from the platform, striking the center of the circle. Currents of energy flowed into the magical circle, at some parts sending more sparks dancing to other parts of the circle. A glow began at the edges, pulling light from the ring itself. As the glow began towards the center, the light flowed out of the outer reaches of the circle, as if draining into the middle. A sphere of light formed above the main symbol, air spinning about it. Brightscales covered his eyes as hurricanes of dust flew around the room.

There was a blinding flash of light and-

* * *

Saphira jerked to her feet as an explosion shook the very foundations of Frostcrag Spire. Dust fell from the ceiling, a few small pieces of stone bouncing off of Saphira's snout. Saphira looked around in panic, planning her escape route should the structure become unstable and collapse. After a few moments, the building settled once more. A haze of dust hung in the air with a hint of... magic? Saphira's tongue darted out to taste the air once more. _Magic caused this?_ Saphira set out to find the source, following her senses to where the magic was the most concentrated.

Eventually, Saphira found herself unknowingly following the path that Brightscales had followed. The magic hung in the air here in such quantities that Saphira felt like she could pluck it out of the air, stretch it out and wrap it around her neck as decoration. She continued on until she found a room filled with an ethereal mist. The air here smelt of magic, smoke and the air during a thunderstorm.

Saphira stumbled as her feet hit a couple steps. She could barely see as it was. The mist did a poor job of illumination, though, luminous as it was. But without another source in the room, Saphira was glad for even that much. She made her way across the large flat surface in the center of the room.

She froze.

That mind. There was a mind in the room. A mental presence that she knew so well.

_Glaurung?_

_No... ugh... my head... where am I?_ the mental voice asked.

Saphira was confused, to say the least. It was Glaurung's voice. Of that much she was certain. But if it wasn't Glaurung... Who was it? She looked up as she heard a moan coming from above. Saphira searched above her with her mind, only to find _another _appearance of Glaurung's mind. _Who is up there? _she asked. The mental presence suddenly disappeared.

"Ugh... my head..." came Brightscales' voice.

_Brightscales! Are you alright? What happened here? _Saphira inquired.

"Saphira? Where are you?"

_On the ground somewhere below you, _Saphira replied.

_Wait... Saphira? _the first voice asked, _Is that you?_

_Yes, my name is Saphira, but who are you? _Saphira asked, wanting to find out who this stranger was and why his mind was so much like Glaurung's.

A light sprang into existence. Saphira winced at the sudden flash, which originated from a sphere of light suspended above Brightscales' open palm. In the radius of light that emanated from Brightscales' light source, Saphira could see what seemed to be a large feline with blue-black fur and the same irridescent green eyes as Brightscales.

"Let me introduce you two. Saphira, meet David. David, meet Saphira..."

Brightscales grinned, irridescent green eyes dancing in the light from the sphere.

"... Again, that is."

* * *

**A/N: Ooooh, I'm really mixing things up now! Some of you may have seen this coming. Shorter than normal, but I did get a few things done that needed to be done, as well as hinted at a few others. Wrote this all in one go, too.**

**Mmhmm... Quick update, eh? I'd like to think that I did a better job on the description this time around.**

**Definitely a recognizable reference to a certain group of people out there. If you don't see it, then I'm very disappointed.**

**I've decided that I might just opt for shorter chapters with faster updates, if the situation calls for it.**

**-=Commentaholic=-**


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